SOWALFIN, a key innovation stakeholder in Wallonia

Interview with Mrs Anne VEREECKE, Member of the SOWALFIN Management Committee

What are SOWALFIN’s missions? Since the Agency for Enterprise and Innovation (AEI) was taken over in 2018, SOWALFIN has provided SMEs with a full range of services covering all stages in their life cycle (creation, growth and transmission) as well as specific needs such as innovation, environment and internationalisation.

This range also includes SOWALFIN’s historical financial products, i.e. provision of guarantees and co-financing in partnership with banks, but also direct financing via the Invests, or via certain subsidiaries of SOWALFIN. Today, it also includes the coordinated provision of support and awareness-raising services through a network of field operators.

How does SOWALFIN support innovation? Any innovation, be it incremental or disruptive, technological or non-technological, product, process or marketing based, is a high-risk venture fraught with obstacles and a source of uncertainty for the company. Specific support is therefore recommended. Various operators, all coordinated by SOWALFIN, set themselves apart by providing customised services aimed at forcing the company to challenge its business model, market positioning, technical approach, intellectual property strategy etc. It is, in fact, important to ask oneself the right questions at the right time.

In terms of financing, SOWALFIN contributes to the financial closure of innovative and ecoinnovative projects through EASY’UP and EASY’GREEN subordinated loans, where appropriate, in addition to loans from the Walloon Invests. Under the Innovfin system (supported by the EIF), a specific guarantee is also provided to cover the majority of bank loans for the financing of innovative projects.

The CXO measure (for CEO, CTO, CFO etc.) can also be activated to bolster certain promising projects by allowing the company to seek the assistance of a contact person with specific skills, who will then complement the on-site team. Lastly, the EUROQUITY platform allows a company raising funds to make itself known among potential investors. © SOWALFIN

How does the EASY’UP loan work? It is a subordinated loan of maximum €500,000 per project with a maximum term of 10 years. It can cover any type of expenditure up to 40% of the total required amount identified and can be combined with other sources of public funding up to 75% of the total budget. It accelerates the marketing or exploitation of projects in the final phase of their development, be they product, service, process or marketing innovation projects. Advisers are available to meet with companies and analyse how SOWALFIN can be of service. In its 10 years of existence, EASY’UP has supported over 250 projects of all kinds and in all sectors.

How could Wallonia distinguish itself more in the area of innovation? The Walloon Region has significant advantages in more than one area. World-renowned universities, approved cutting-edge Research Centres in a number of different key sectors, highly qualified labour etc. The competitiveness clusters are a key element in this redeployment and can boast significant achievements through large-scale collaborative projects.

However, we need to take things one step further: we must ensure that all know-how and results from research trickle down more to the economic fabric and, more specifically, to the SMEs: we must encourage Walloon innovation stakeholders to export and firmly participate in European projects and, finally, anticipate changes and further develop the smart specialisation strategy in order to capitalise on the Region’s strengths for the benefit of priority sectors, which are the key drivers for the entire territory. © SOWALFIN